June 3, 2009

Hatchet job

At least once a year I find my garden vaguely disturbing. At some point though it occurs to me that I’ve got too many colors. Long story short is that I get some of my plants gratis and who can turn down a freebie from a friend? Not me.

But the blue pinks next to salmon pinks next to sunshine yellows with a red thrown in gives me the shivers. That’s when the clippers come out and I selectively eliminate all but a few. One color at a time, the pinks go first. That’s better. Then anything brash like a too-strong yellow gets clipped off below the bud.

I eliminated all the apricot blossoms on my Pat Austin roses because they didn’t look right as near as they were to my Gold Plate yarrow. The butter yellow Stella D’Oro daylilies aren’t jiving with the harsh yellow Asiatic lilies nearby. Which ones will get the hatchet? Both when the delicate drumstick alliums begin to bloom in the next few days.

Just saying….if your garden is giving you nightmares, try the hatchet treatment and see if you don’t feel better. It’s weird, but it works.

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DAILY READ: Independent.Co.Uk - “Gardening people, though terribly nice on the surface, are a seething mass of resentment, insecurity, paranoia and bitchery.”